On average, how much lower from sticker price can you get

[marshallandcartersmo]

on a new car? I’m ready for a change, currently drive a 2004 Odyssey (bought new), she has served us well but 200,000 Miles & a few dings later it’s time to trade her in. Fearing I’ll miss the ability to haul several passengers but don’t want another mini van, leaning towards the Pilot or Highlander. We like to buy new & keep for 10+ years, & we have looked at used-but honestly a 2017/2016 model with low miles is almost as expensive & you get less of a warranty. Haven’t bought a car in a LONG TIME-what’s a good % off sticker amount? TIA

 

[kymom99]

I have been looking at car gurus. It will tell you if the price is fair and how much above or below value it is.

Very often with used cars they actually give you a better warranty than new.

 

[Alesia]

You might want to look more closely at used cars. In 2015 I bought a 2014 Honda Civic for $10,000 less than a brand new one would have cost and it came with a 7 year warranty.

One tip I've learned: if you're looking for a specific make, don't go to a dealership that sells that make new. A lincon dealership is going to give you a better price on a used Honda because they have a harder time selling them.

 

[kymom99]

I am also going to add that if you are looking for roominess comparable to a van, a Highlander isn't going to give it to you. My friend has one and it's extremely awkward to climb in the 3rd row and the ride is not very comfortable.

 

[barkley]

if you belong to costco you might want to check and see what kind of price you can get through their program. we did ALLOT of research when we were looking at buying our last vehicle and decided to see what kind of price we could get through costco's program. there was no way we could have gotten the price they had prenegotiated.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We took $5,500 off the price of a $27,200 vehicle, roughly 20% off sticker. Used models 2015-2016 with 30-50K miles were going for 18-20K everywhere, so we added a couple grand to get brand new.

 

[LovesTimone]

First - we set our budget, and what the monthly payment can be. Then we stick to it.

We research the what we are looking for, then we cruise the lots. A couple of weekends.

Don't be afraid to say no or get up and walk out. Stand your ground with them. Never say oh I love this one, or this is perfect for us. This seems okay or might meet our needs are phrases we use. Don't buy on the first trip, this way you don't have buyers remorse later on. As well we have had the salesman call and sweeten the deal.

I am not one to play the game. You know where they go talk to someone in the back, and come back to this or that offer, and then repeat... Nope not doing it. We have walked out of more dealerships, do to this game that the love to play. We had the salesman walking out to our car, even tapped on the window and was like I'll see what I can do come on back in.

Also watch out on all the dealer fee's. Ask questions on what this fee is for? why? make them explain it. DH ask what one this one fee was it was like 500.00 for nothing basically, something like a deliver fee, and what that meant them washing the car.

Make sure the cash back or other offer's are in the paper work.

I also do not want to be pressured, If its a high pressure sales pitch and they keep pushing and pushing, we walk a way.

Also buying at the end of the year when they have last years, and this years cars sitting, and they need to free up inventory.

Take a picture of the vehicle, tires, hitch, luggage racks, interior.

 

[tvguy]

The best rule of thumb is NOT to look for a discount off sticker price, but to see how little the dealer will take OVER wholesale price. And wholesale price is NOT dealer invoice. It is lower because dealers pay invoice price for a car, THEN when they sell it, they get what is known as a holdback, usually 1% or so of what they paid for a car at invoice price as a commission of the automaker for actually selling the car. You can get the wholesale price from people like Consumer Reports.

 

[Anthony1971]

Check out Edmunds.com there is a forum under the research tab that people discuss what they DID pay for the car.... you can not take a general % as there are so many considerations as in if its a new model or going out are you trading in what options you want and even color.... example if you walk in now and want a 2019 and the model is new you can expect little off if you want a 2018 that is the outgoing design you can expect a lot off... the dealers also make a lot of higher optioned cars than lower... if you want a base model you can expect a lower percentage off than a top line model.

 

[kristenrice]

Check out Edmunds.com there is a forum under the research tab that people discuss what they DID pay for the car.... you can not take a general % as there are so many considerations as in if its a new model or going out are you trading in what options you want and even color.... example if you walk in now and want a 2019 and the model is new you can expect little off if you want a 2018 that is the outgoing design you can expect a lot off... the dealers also make a lot of higher optioned cars than lower... if you want a base model you can expect a lower percentage off than a top line model.

Interesting.....

The only "upgrades" that I like in a vehicle are leather seats and maybe a sunroof. I don't want the in-dash navigation, fancy audio system and all those "driver assistance" things that really just distract me because I can't figure them out. I usually try to "build" my car by adding to a base model. Now that I know this bit of information, it seems that I could probably get a better deal (and a "better" car) by starting with a higher-end version.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Please put "on a car" in the title so it doesn't click bait those who aren't interested in this topic.

 

[Ben E N]

Different brands set different sticker prices, knowing that they mean nothing. Chevy is one that has a real high sticker price, but then is always offering big incentives. Try to avoid paying anything over invoice. Dealers know that you can see it and try to set it as a false bottom, even though they are still making money due to dealer incentives.
Check forums specific to the type of car you are looking to buy to see what other people have paid to get a good idea of what you should be looking to pay.

 

[smiths02]

Check out Edmunds.com there is a forum under the research tab that people discuss what they DID pay for the car.... you can not take a general % as there are so many considerations as in if its a new model or going out are you trading in what options you want and even color.... example if you walk in now and want a 2019 and the model is new you can expect little off if you want a 2018 that is the outgoing design you can expect a lot off... the dealers also make a lot of higher optioned cars than lower... if you want a base model you can expect a lower percentage off than a top line model.

When we bought last year, we looked at 2017 Odyssey right around when the 2018 were coming out with a significantly different design.
While we got some off sticker price, the dealer had already discounted off sticker price when we approached them. We looked at two different Odysseys at two different dealers. Neither dealer would go down much from their initial (published) offer. I mean, maybe we are lousy negotiators and they called our bluff, but we after a few small price drops, both dealers came back with "this is what it is buy it or buy the other one at the other dealer you are talking about."

We did get a better "deal" offered on the upgraded model, but in the end went with the less expensive vehicle as we decided we didn't "need" all those features.

 

[cvjw]

We have had the best luck getting a lower price on vehicles by dealing with the internet sales departments at different dealerships. We know what we want and talk to different dealerships until we can get one to meet (or get close) to our drive out price.

I will say that Honda and Toyota dealers don’t want to discount their vehicles unless they have to - around here, demand is high. We did get a nice discount on our sons 2016 rav 4 sport around Labor Day. The 2017 models were on the way and they needed to clear their lot.

In 2013, while trying to negotiate for a $44,000 Toyota Highlander, they came off $2000. And we had purchased multiple vehicles from the dealership. I guess it just depends on demand for the vehicle you want!

 

[smiths02]

We have had the best luck getting a lower price on vehicles by dealing with the internet sales departments at different dealerships. We know what we want and talk to different dealerships until we can get one to meet (or get close) to our drive out price.

I will say that Honda and Toyota dealers don’t want to discount their vehicles unless they have to - around here, demand is high. We did get a nice discount on our sons 2016 rav 4 sport around Labor Day. The 2017 models were on the way and they needed to clear their lot.

In 2013, while trying to negotiate for a $44,000 Toyota Highlander, they came off $2000. And we had purchased multiple vehicles from the dealership. I guess it just depends on demand for the vehicle you want!

Kind of our experience. We haven't purchased a new car before last year. (DH's dad really pressured DH that you shouldn't buy a car unless you can negotiate $10,000 off of asking price.) For Hondas at least, we found that the dealers around here had felt like they already listed pretty much their best price online. Like I said, we even pitted one dealer against another and neither would budge.

 

[Ben E N]

I first probed prices using a fake name on autotrader. Based on the best dealers there, I emailed the top 3 with my real information, letting them know that I was ready to buy within 24 hours and needed their best price. 2 did jerk me around a bit, listing prices higher than they gave my fake account, but the third came in at an actual bottom price. I know this because after I bought from the 3rd, one of the other two suddenly came back with an identical price of what I paid.

 

[robinb]

Please put "on a car" in the title so it doesn't click bait those who aren't interested in this topic.

What did you think it was?

 

[gottalovepluto]

What did you think it was?

Store items. While the phrase is often used for cars it also means the advertised retail price for literally any item with a price, which is why op had to finish their question as the first thing they said.

 

[robinb]

Store items. While the phrase is often used for cars it also means the advertised retail price for literally any item with a price, which is why op had to finish their question as the first thing they said.

I thought it was cars from the start. Our culture doesn't haggle on most items and the price on the tag is the price.

 

[runwad]

I went through the car internet sales department when I got our 2009 Odyssey. Best experience ever! Everything was done over email. It might of taken 4 days but when it was done we went and got our van. I kinda forget all the different things I did, but I know someone told me to learn about dealer holdback and I did. I also somehow saw the dealer invoice, but not the one they show you, there is another one that is the real one, but dang I forget how I did all that. Oh well maybe someone can fill us both in.

We got a lot off our van but cash for clunkers was a big part of that too. But still the whole experience just dealing over the internet and not wasting a whole day sitting at the dealership just made it pleasant.